Worth (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): What Is Life Worth?

Posted on September 14, 2021 by kaist455

“Worth”, which was released in South Korean theaters several months ago while released on Netflix in US a few weeks ago, attempts to examine what is really fair and just in evaluating the individual worth of many different human lives lost in one of the most devastating incidents in US during last 20 years. While its initially calm and objective stance eventually is tilted toward emotions and sentiments as expected, the movie did a fairly admirable job of handing its human matters with care and attention, and I appreciate a number of quietly touching moments glimpsed from the long and frustrating legal struggles depicted in the film.

The story of the movie is mainly told via the viewpoint of Kenneth Feinberg (Michael Keaton), a senior partner of one prominent law firm in Washington D.C. In the early morning of September 11th, 2001, he is going to the city along with many others via a commuter train as usual, but then many cellular phones suddenly ring here and there around him when they are about to arrive in the city, and he and others around him soon come to learn of those terrible terrorist attacks which just happened in New York City and Washington D.C.

Around two weeks later, the country and its citizens are still reeling from the enormous shock of the 9/11 incident, but the US government and its high-ranking officials are already focusing on handling the messy aftermath as soon as possible, and one of their immediate issues is how to compensate fairly to each of thousands of citizens who lost their respective loved ones during the incident. While it goes without saying that all lives equally matter in theory, they cannot possibly have the same amount of money allotted to all of those various victims ranging from a poor janitor to a rich company executive, so somebody must set the rules and boundaries to dictate how much they should pay in each case.

Because of seeing not only an interesting legal challenge associated with his expertise but also a valuable opportunity to help his country and government, Feinberg volunteers to be the one who will do that tricky job, and he and his senior partner Camille Biros (Amy Ryan) promptly embark on this legal project along with several interns at their law firm. Feinberg is confident that they will be able to persuade at least 80% of applicants to side with his plan before the deadline incidentally set around the end of 2003, but he and his team soon come to see how daunting their job is in many aspects. Many of applicants are regarding his plan with suspicion and distrust, and some of them have already hired lawyers, who are ready to go for the lawsuits for getting any possible damages from the US government or those airline companies.

Fortunately, there is a guy who may persuade most of these numerous applicants to be more sensible and reasonable with what Feinberg is going to propose, though he does not particularly approve of Feinberg’s plan right from the beginning. He is Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), and he genuinely cares about what should done for him and many other applicants out there, so it does not take much time for him to draw more attention from his fellow applicants than Feinberg.

While understanding more of the position of Wolf and many other applicants, Feinberg tries to be neutral and objective as much as he can, and he and his team are reminded again and again of how that is nearly impossible for them because, well, they are also human beings just like the people they are handling at present. Wisely avoiding any cheap tear or sentimentality, the movie simply listens to a series of harrowing human stories from some of the applicants at one point, and that is more enough for us to feel a bit of the immensely tragic aspects of the 9/11 incident.

The screenplay by Max Borenstein, which is based on Feinberg’s nonfiction book “What Is Life Worth?”, becomes a little tense when Feinberg and his team try much harder for accomplishing their seemingly impossible goal within a short time, but the movie still maintains its dry low-key tone under the competent direction of director Sara Colangelo, who previously made “The Kindergarten Teacher” (2018). Although Borenstein’s screenplay overplays a bit in case of a grieving widow whose dead husband later turns out to have a very complicated private life, the film still does not lose its balance even during that part, and it does not overstep at all when it arrives at the expected finale, which is pretty somber and anti-climactic but leaves lots of things for us to reflect on.

The cast members of the film dutifully fill their respective spots as required. Michael Keaton, who also served as one of the producers of the film, is dependable as usual, and it is engaging to observe how he gradually dials down his distinctive presence along the story as his character becomes more personally involved in the human aspects of his project. As Keaton’s counterpart in the story, Stanley Tucci brings considerable humanity and decency to his character, and he is particularly good when his character happens to have a honest and meaningful discussion with Feinberg later in the story. In case of the other substantial cast members including Shunori Ramanathan, Tate Donovan, and Amy Ryan, they are rather under-utilized in their functional supporting roles, but Ryan did a bit more than constantly looking concerned beside Keaton at least.

On the whole, “Worth” does not delve that deep into its main subjects, but it is sincere and thoughtful enough to hold my attention nonetheless. Although it does not answer to its moral questions that well, these moral questions are surely something worthwhile to muse on, so I recommend it despite some reservation on whether it works as well as intended.

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Respect (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A conventional biopic starring Jennifer Hudson

Posted on September 14, 2021 by kaist455

“Respect” is a thoroughly conventional musician biopic whose glaring flaws are occasionally compensated by the strong performance from its lead actress. Whenever the movie lets us down during its rather long running time (145 minutes), she always lifts it up via her undeniable presence and talent, and she certainly handles her real-life character with care, passion, and, yes, lots of respect, even though her commendable acting is often hampered by those many weak aspects of the movie.

That real-life character in question is none other than Aretha Franklin, a legendary African American singer whose reputation and legacy have still been growing even after her death in 2018. I must confess that I did not know a lot about her before hearing about her death and then watching Sidney Pollack’s exceptional music documentary film “Amazing Grace” (2018), but I still vividly remember when I was blown away by her scene-stealing musical scene in John Landis’ “The Blues Brothers” (1980) many years ago, and many of her songs appearing in “Respect” surely remind me again of how much I have been familiar with them without knowing her life and career that much.

Unfortunately, the movie does not tell me more about Franklin’s life and career as duly doling out one genre cliché after another. While it does not disappoint me in case of its several good musical moments, the movie often suffers from scattershot narrative and thin characterization as covering too much of the 20 years of Franklin’s life, and we are only left with the vague impression of her artistic greatness without getting to know her that much.

Anyway, there are some parts which do work as well as intended, and one of them is the early part showing the childhood years of Franklin in Detroit, Michigan during the 1950s. Even when she was only 10 years old, young Franklin, who is played with considerable pluck and confidence by young performer Skye Dakota Turner, showed considerable potential as a singer, and both of her parents are certainly willing to encourage her more. As an influential local pastor connected with many different famous African American figures ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to Dinah Washington, her father C.L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker) was already ready to prepare her for professional musician career, and her mother Barbara (Audra McDonald) welcomed that because she had worked as a professional singer for years, though she did not see her daughter that often after her divorce.

After showing two incidents which broke young Franklin’s heart a lot, the movie soon moves onto the 1960s. Now becoming a young lady singer, Franklin, who is played by Jennifer Hudson from this point, is eager to go for professional success, and her father is certainly determined to support her as much as he can, but she soon finds herself not so happy with her father’s management of her career. Although he helps her get a contract with Columbia Records in New York City, her career still goes nowhere despite releasing several albums, and she naturally comes to feel more need to go her own way and then find her own voice to distinguish herself.

And then there comes a seemingly good opportunity for that via Ted White (Marlon Wayans, who looks as serious as when he appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s great film “Requiem for a Dream” (2000)), a handsome dude Franklin came across in Detroit several years ago. Although White is not exactly trustworthy, Franklin decides to take a chance with White despite the warning from her father, and things soon get much better for her career once he helps her getting a new contract with Atlantic Records. Once she releases her first hit song, everything goes quite well for her within a few years, and she is soon regarded as a new rising talent to watch in her field.

Of course, like many of musician biopics out there, the movie later throws lots of small and big troubles into the story, and that is where the screenplay by Tracey Scott Wilson, which is based on the story by Wilson and her co-writer Callie Khouri, begins to stumble. Too frequently going up and down along with its heroine, the story feels rather uneven and contrived without bringing enough depth to its heroine, and a bunch of supporting characters around her are more or less than flat plot elements to accompany her. At least, Forest Whitaker and Audra McDonald manage to overcome their thankless roles to some degree, and Whittaker is particularly good in conveying to us his character’s complex emotional relationship with Franklin.

Anyway, Hudson, who finally gets a chance to fully utilize her natural talent and charisma after many years since her show-stopping Oscar-winning turn in “Dreamgirls” (2006), is utterly committed to say the least, and she did an admirable job of channeling Franklin’s personality and talent. In case of the expected redemptive finale associated with the making of “Amazing Grace” in 1972, Hudson is quite captivating in her intense presentation of spiritual elevation, and I did not sense much awkwardness or disparity when I subsequently saw the epilogue video clip showing real Franklin performing in front of hundreds of audiences including President Barack Obama.

Directed by Liesl Tommy, “Respect” is not a total failure at least mainly thanks to Hudson’s sincere and diligent efforts, but it does not have enough life and personality compared to those acclaimed musician biopic films such as Taylor Hackford’s “Ray” (2004) or James Mangold’s “Walk the Line” (2005). Somewhere in the film, there is a more effective story which would serve Hudson better, and I wish I could watch it instead.

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In the Same Breath (2021) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Another important documentary of the COVID-19 pandemic era

Posted on September 13, 2021 by kaist455

HBO documentary film “In the Same Breath” is another important record of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic era. Mostly sticking to personal stories to show and tell, the documentary calmly and harrowingly observes how things went wrong in China and then US during last year, and you may come to fear for what will possibly happen next if we do not learn anything from the devastating outcomes of the pandemic at present.

At the beginning, director/co-producer/co-editor Nanfu Wang, who previously drew my attention for her acclaimed documentary “One Child Nation” (2019), shows us how everything looked fine and normal in Wuhan, China on the first day of 2020. As many people in the city were celebrating the New Year’s Day outside, the state-controlled media reported on the arrest of 8 people for spreading unsubstantiated rumors about a new strain of coronavirus on the same day, but that news looked insignificant to the citizens of Wuhan as well as Wang, who happened to visit her hometown, which is incidentally not so far from Wuhan, along with her American husband and their two-year-old daughter around that time. During next two weeks, the Chinese government and its media outlets kept assuring to the public that there was nothing to fear as everything was under control, and Wang and her husband were not particularly concerned when they left for US while letting their daughter stay with her grandmother a bit longer.

However, as we all know, things got pretty worse around the end of January 2021. As Wuhan was subsequently quarantined from the world outside by the Chinese government, many other cities in China were also alerted to take actions against the growing number of COVID-19 infection cases, and, of course, many other countries began to take notice of this medical emergency at last. Quite worried about her daughter, Wang managed to have her daughter brought back to US, but then she was quite concerned about her mother and other family members in her hometown.

While trying to discern what was exactly going on in Wuhan, Wang came across numerous online writings and video clips posted from the city, and that was the beginning of her documentary project. She contacted several cameramen willing to record as much as they were permitted, and what they recorded on their cameras is not so far from “76 Days” (2020), an Emmy-winning documentary which presents raw glimpses into the lockdown period of Wuhan. While we often see empty streets, we also watch many hospital workers trying their best despite their daunting circumstance, and we later meet several local people willing to talk a bit about their personal loss and grief caused by COVID-19.

Many of the Chinese interviewees in the documentary prefer to remain anonymous or speak nothing at all against their country and government, and the documentary sharply points out how the Chinese government tried to protect itself by any means necessary. At first, it simply tried to cover up the epidemic as expecting the epidemic to be over within a short time. Once the situations turned out to be much more serious, it quickly changed the position while also spreading “positive” propaganda about its mighty efforts against the epidemic, and Wang cannot help but show her sardonic amusement on that.

Around the time when Wuhan was freed from lockdown, it was reported that around 3,300 people died of COVID-19 during the lockdown period, but, not so surprisingly, that is another lie from the Chinese government, which was already ready to move onto the future while further solidifying its power from Chinese people. According to one anonymous interviewee working in one of several public cemeteries in Wuhan, more than 20,000 people actually died during the lockdown period, and those countless tombstones shown at one point speak volumes to us about how much the city and its people were devastated during that time.

Despite watching how things got worse and worse in China during the first two months of 2020, Wang was not concerned that much when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in US, but then she and many others in US saw how the situation got quickly worse during next several months thanks to the mishandling of the situation by the US government, which was unfortunately led by that orange-faced bastard at that point. Thanks to heaps of misinformation spread by that irresponsible prick and his deplorable cronies and followers, the American society was soon turned upside down, and Wang helplessly observed how the situation could also go quite wrong in the opposite way in contrast to China.

In addition, Wang interviewed several American medical workers who were quite serious about the epidemic from the beginning, and their personal experiences are not so different from their Chinese counterparts. They all saw and experienced lots of deaths despite their best efforts, and the resulting emotional tolls on them feel palpable to us when they cannot say more in front of the camera. Watching their emotional moments, I could not help but muse on the enormous efforts of those local medical workers in South Korea at present, and I certainly support any good policy to help and relieve these people more.

On the whole, “In the Same Breath” is worthwhile to watch for its achingly human moments as well as its sobering observation on how the COVID-19 pandemic was disastrously mishandled by both the Chinese and US governments, and, probably because I was vaccinated just before watching the documentary, I came to reflect more on what Wang points out around the end of the documentary. Yes, things will never be the same even after we do not have to wear mask anymore, but will people really learn from this ongoing pandemic? I am not so sure, and that surely makes me as concerned as Wang.

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Dreaming Cat (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): Save those stray cats

Posted on September 12, 2021 by kaist455

To be frank with you, I cannot possibly be objective about South Korean documentary film “Dreaming Cats”, which is about many different cats living in abandoned neighborhoods to be demolished sooner or later. As a guy who does not have any pet cat yet but has heaps of cat photographs saved in his smartphone, I could not help but look at those cats in the documentary with curiosity and endearment, and I was certainly quite touched by the decent human efforts for saving and helping them.

Looking around several different abandoned neighborhoods in South Korea, the documentary closely and calmly observes the daily activities of cats living in these neighborhoods. Not knowing at all that their neighborhoods will be soon demolished, these cats keep leading their daily life as usual, and some of them are actually quite friendly to humans as expecting any chance of eating. In case of one chubby cat, this cat surely knows how to appeal to humans, and I must confess that I could not help but smile a bit as watching this cat rolling its body a bit on the ground.

Because it is highly likely that the cats in these abandoned neighborhoods may not survive once their neighborhoods start to be demolished, they really need to be sheltered and relocated as soon as possible, and the documentary gives us a close look on the sincere efforts of a number of cat lovers. In addition to feeding cats from time to time, they also try to catch cats as many as possible via various means including cage traps, and we later see how captured cats are handled at animal shelters and hospitals. As spending lots of time outside without much help, many of captured cats are riddled with injuries and diseases, and that certainly reminds us again of why we need to pay more attention to stray cats as well as other stray animals out there.

One of the notable stray cats in the documentary is a tuxedo cat with lame hind legs, and the documentary focuses a bit on its medical treatment and following recovery. Although its lame hind legs turn out to be a congenital defect, this disabled cat soon begins to get better as time goes by, and we subsequently see it having a fairly comfortable time with several other rescued cats in some nice shelter for them.

We also see several other shelters, and one of those shelter owners gladly talks about her passion and affection toward those rescued cats under her care. Once they are recovered, many of them will be returned to safer places to inhabit outside, but some of them are allowed to live in the shelter for understandable reasons, and the shelter owner does not mind taking care of all of these remaining cats everyday at all.

Meanwhile, the efforts for catching and saving strayed cats are continued as usual. In case of one abandoned neighborhood, there is not much time left, so those animal rescue people try really hard for catching cats, but there are still many cats left – and many of them are much smarter than expected. For instance, these smart cats find how to eat the baits without getting caught in the cage traps for them, and the animal rescue people cannot help but impressed despite their increasing frustration.

In the end, many of abandoned neighborhoods shown in the documentary are demolished step by step, and it is rather devastating to see these neighborhoods turned into barren flat areas for new buildings to be built someday. We see a few stray cats still living around these demolished areas, but many stray cats probably did not survive during those demolition processes, and you will be reminded of how inconsiderable we often are to many other species on the Earth as mostly occupied with our inconvenience. As mentioned at the end of the documentary, there are around 3,000 areas to be demolished in South Korea, but animal rescue operations are done in only around 1% of them.

This is indeed a gloomy fact to say the least, so it is a bit comforting to see that there are many people who really care about helping and saving stray cats. In case of one young couple, they became interested in stray cats shorty after beginning to raise their little pet cat, and we see them cheerfully going around here and there in their neighborhood for giving some food to those stray cats in their neighborhood. Although it was not so easy for them at the beginning, they subsequently got the approvals from many of their neighborhood, and they even installed a number of little cozy spots for stray cats to rest and eat.

Overall, “Dreaming Cats”, which is directed by Ji Won and Kang Min-hyun, did an admirable job of presenting its feline subjects with considerable care and affection, and it deserves to be compared to other recent notable feline documentaries such as “Kedi” (2017), a very adorable piece of work about various stray cats living in Istanbul, Turkey. Although it is understandably not as joyful as “Kedi”, “Dreaming Cats” will still make you feel amused and tickled by its many different stray cats who have each own adorable quality to be savored, and I certainly recommend it to you especially if you watch cute cat video clips on YouTube as frequently as I have these days. Yes, I sometimes think cats can be pretty haughty and ungrateful, but my cranky heart is always melted by their genuine cuteness, and the documentary reminds me again that I should keep being nice to those stray cats in my old college campus.

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Good Person (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): A teacher oscillating between faith and doubt

Posted on September 11, 2021 by kaist455

South Korean film “Good Person” is a calm but tense drama mainly revolving around the gloomy plight of one man oscillating between faith and doubt after one devastating incident. Struggling with the resulting grief and anger, he simply tries to do the right things, but he only ends up committing a series of wrong things instead, and he is reminded again and again of those serious human flaws still inside him.

Everything begins from one seemingly insignificant incident at a high school where Kyeong-seok (Kim Tae-hoon) works as one of its staff members. Somebody stole the wallet of one of his class students, and the security camera installed around the classroom clearly shows that the culprit is one of other students in the class, though its video footage is not clear enough for Kyeong-seok to identify who that student really is. While promising that there will be no disclosure or punishment, Kyeong-seok tries as much as he can with his class students, but, alas, nobody still comes to him, and he understandably gets more frustrated.

And then there comes a little tip from one of Kyeong-seok class students. According to this student, Se-ik (Lee Hyo-je), one of his classmates, is the one who stole that wallet, so Kyeong-seok subsequently comes to have a private meeting with Se-ik. Not so surprisingly, Se-ik, a sullen introverted boy who does not seem to be not so social to say the least, is not particularly willing to tell anything to Kyeong-seok, so Kyeong-seok soon finds himself running out of his patience. Nevertheless, he keeps maintaining his calm attitude as usual, and he eventually has Se-ik remain in the school for several more hours, which may give Se-ik enough time for writing or telling anything.

Meanwhile, there is something else Kyeong-seok has to handle immediately. Because his ex-wife happens to be absent for a few days due to her work, Kyeong-seok must take care of their little daughter in the meantime, but it is apparent that his daughter is not so pleased about spending time with her father for some unknown reason. No matter how much Kyeong-seok tries to cajole his daughter, she remains quite unhappy while not saying much to her father, and Kyeong-seok finally becomes very irritated around the time when he arrives at his school along with his daughter. After he blurts out some harsh words to his daughter, her mood becomes much worse than before, and he eventually leaves her in his car before going inside the school for handling his matter with Ik-se.

In case of Ik-se, he still does not write or tell anything at all, and Kyeong-seok has no choice but to let Ik-se go, but then something really serious happens. Shortly after Ik-se goes out, Kyeong-seok goes back to his car, and he is surprised to find that his daughter left the car during his absence. After looking for her for a while, he subsequently reports her missing to the police, and, unfortunately, it soon turns out that his daughter had a car accident at a spot not so far from the school.

At least, Kyeong-seok’s daughter is not dead, but both Kyeong-seok and his ex-wife are devastated to see their daughter being unconscious at a hospital, and Kyeong-seok’s ex-wife is certainly angry at him – especially when she happens to discover what occurred between him and their daughter not long before the time of the accident. As a result, old resentments between them are resurfaced while they are respectively coping with grief and anger, and she even puts a restraining order on him later.

While facing more agony and guilt as a consequence, Kyeong-seok becomes gradually obsessed with finding what really happened at that time. According to the driver of the vehicle which hit Kyeong-seok’s daughter, she was pushed onto the road by some unidentified high school student, and the police are already quite interested in investigating on Ik-se because a security camera installed around the spot shows his accidental encounter with Kyeong-seok’s daughter right before the time of the accident. As he comes to delve more into the case, Kyeong-seok cannot help but think of a certain horrible possibility, but then things become more complicated when Ik-se stops coming to the school for no apparent reason, and Kyeong-seok becomes more confused and exasperated while going nowhere at all.

As steadily keeping things rolling along its narrative, the movie focuses more on its hero’s emerging person demons. Kim Tae-hoon did a solid job of conveying to us his character’s increasingly troubled state of mind, and he is also supported well by several good performers surrounding him. As Kyeong-seok’s devastated wife, Kim Hyun-jung did more than her thankless job requires, and Kim Jong-goo is also fine in his small but crucial supporting part. In case of Lee Hyo-je, a young actor who previously appeared in “The Throne” (2015) and “Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned” (2016), he ably sways his role back and forth between sympathy and suspicion, and I sincerely hope that we will see more of his considerable talent in the future.

In conclusion, “Good Person”, which is incidentally the first feature film from director Jung Wook, is often stark and melancholic in its harrowing tale of grief and anger, but it is fairly engaging on the whole thanks to its competent direction and good performances, and it does earn a little tentative glimpse of hope in the end. It is certainly not something you can watch for cheering you up, but, folks, no good movie is depressing, and this movie is good enough to make you reflect on its story and characters for a while.

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Beyond You (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): Beyond Him

Posted on September 11, 2021 by kaist455

To be frank with you, I was rather bored during the first 30 minutes of South Korean independent film “Beyond You” because I did not know much about what and how it was going to be about. On the surface, it initially looked like another low-budget film influenced by those plain talky works of Hong Sang-soo, but then it somehow engaged me more as turning into something quite different. As reflecting more on a number of key moments in the film, I come to admire its storytelling and technical aspects more, and I am willing to appreciate its several strong points again someday.

At the beginning, we get the odd opening scene unfolded at a small public park in Seoul. After the camera observes a bunch of tiny ants on the ground for a while, the movie baffles us with a brief but bizarre moment involved with its struggling filmmaker hero Kyeong-ho (Kim Kwon-hoo), and then we see him subsequently meeting a young woman named Ji-yeon(Yoon Hye-ri), who sends him a message accompanied with a piece of writing written by her mother In-sook (Oh Min-ae). Many years ago, In-sook was quite close to Kyeong-ho, but she has recently been suffering the early onset of dementia, and Ji-yeon is curious about whatever happened between Kyeong-ho and her mother during that time.

However, Kyeong-ho does not seem to remember Ji-yeon’s mother well at present, and he is understandably flabbergasted when Ji-yeon asks whether he is actually her biological father. While their little conversation is going nowhere, the camera steadily hangs around them in addition to paying some attention to the background, and I was a bit amused by a seemingly coincidental moment involved with a certain vehicle and its driver in the background.

As we wonder about Ji-yeon’s question, she eventually leaves the scene, and, probably because of curiosity, Kyeong-ho decides to follow her without being noticed by her. Shortly arriving at some shabby neighborhood which looks labyrinthian due to those narrow alleys, she eventually arrives at a small public place where someone is waiting for her, and that person in question is none other than her mother. They talk with each other for a while, and then Ji-yeon leaves, and then Kyeong-ho tries to approach to In-sook, who, to his another bafflement, does not remember him at all.

Meanwhile, we also get to know a bit about how things have been going nowhere for Kyeong-ho’s life and his filmmaking career. He attempts to write a new script which is incidentally based on his personal feelings, but the president of a movie production company, who has also been an old acquaintance of his, is not much interested as pointing out the lack of entertainment value in Kyeong-ho’s script, and that certainly makes the mood pretty bitter and awkward between them. Quite more frustrated than before, Kyeong-ho later meets a female writer which may help him a bit, but their conversation is eventually interrupted when he happens to spot Ji-yeon, and that leads to another baffling moment to him as he promptly goes after her.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by director Park Hong-min and his co-writer Cha Hye-jin does not seem to be going anywhere, but then it takes an unexpected left turn in terms of mood and storytelling. When Kyeong-ho is trying to revise his rejected screenplay at his small and shabby residence during one evening, somebody suddenly knocks on the door of his residence, and Kyeong-ho is alarmed to find Ji-yeon outside his residence. For some unknown reason, she wants to see and talk with him right now, and she is quite adamant even though he refuses her urgent request again and again.

I will not go into details on what happens next, but I can tell you instead that the movie soon enters the dreamy territory of those fascinatingly mind-bending films ranging from “Mulholland Drive” (2001) to “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (2020). As we come to wonder about what is exactly going on around Kyeong-ho, we also come to question the reliability of his increasingly shaky viewpoint, and the movie does not hesitate to catch us off guard as jumping from one strange moment to another. Despite its low production budget, the movie is steadily imbued with subtle dreamy qualities in addition to having some realistic ground for that, and Park and his crew members provide us a number of technically commendable moments including one certain key scene where the effortless 360-degree panning of the camera generates considerable drama effect between the two main characters in the film.

Although the three main characters of the film are more or less than archetypes, its three main cast members dutifully fill their respective parts without overshadowing each other at all. While Kim Kwon-hoo earnestly holds the center as required, Yoon Hye-ri gives an engaging performance which always suggests something more behind her rather elusive character, and Oh Min-ae is particularly heartbreaking when her character is scared and devastated by the fading status of her mind.

On the whole, “Beyond You” requires some patience from you during its opening part, but it is worthwhile to watch for its gradually compelling handling of mood and narrative, and the overall result is much better than “Me and Me” (2020), which also tried similar stuffs but ultimately failed to engage or intrigue me enough. I am still trying to understand and interpret its whole picture, but I did enjoy the free-flowing narrative of the film and the dream logic behind it, and that is more than enough for recommendation in my humble opinion.

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Snowball (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): They try their best – and they also do their worst

Posted on September 4, 2021 by kaist455

I often wanted to shake my head as watching South Korean film “Snowball”, which mainly revolves around three different adolescent girls who try their best but end up doing their worst. Although it phlegmatically observes their worsening circumstance from the distance, the movie also lets us understand their emotional struggle and confusion to some degree, and we keep watching them even when it becomes quite apparent that something worse will continue to happen among them along the story.

The story is mainly told via the viewpoint of Kang-i (Bang Minah), a 18-year-old high school girl who has been not so happy due to many uncertainties in her daily life. As the only daughter of a rather poor family, she often feels lonely and isolated among many of her schoolmates who are more affluent compared to her, and the only consolation comes from her two close friends Ah-ram (Shim Dal-gi) and So-yeong (Han Sung-min). While Ah-ram is the most miserable one in the bunch due to her abusive father, So-yeong is a confident model student supported by her rich family as well as those teachers of their school, and Kang-i tells us a bit about how much her rich friend can get away with many things at the school.

Anyway, both Kang-i and her two friends have been quite suffocated by their school and their respective families, and Ah-ram and Kang-i do not hesitate at all when So-yeong suggests that they should run away and then go to Seoul together. Having aspired to become an actress someday, So-yeong is willing to take a chance with some audition for new talents to be held in Seoul, and both Ah-ram and Kang-i are eager to enjoy much more freedom than before while their friend is preparing for that audition.

However, not so surprisingly, things do not go well for all of them as they soon come to face harsh reality, though the movie thankfully restrains itself from showing too much of their dark and seedy circumstance. When they happen to be on an alley without nowhere else to go, they come across a guy who not only gives them some money but also allows them to sleep at his small residence, and we are naturally concerned about what may happen next, but then this awkward situation is turned upside down to our little dark amusement.

Kang-i and her two friends later manage to get some other place where they can stay for a while, but they are still stuck in their increasingly despairing circumstance. Not long after So-yeong fails in that audition, Ah-ram lets herself get involved with someone who leads her to a certain job not suitable to any adolescent girl, but she does not seem to mind this at all in addition to bringing a little stray cat to their temporary staying place.

While Ah-ram is often absent day by day, Kang-i and So-yeong remain stuck in their temporary staying place without nothing much to do. As getting more frustrated with their ongoing ennui, So-yeong becomes rather harsh to Kang-i, and Kang-i does not know how to deal with her friend’s increasingly edgy attitude toward her, but then the emotional tension between them is developed into something quite unexpected on one day.

In the end, after getting so tired of how they have been going nowhere, Kang-i and her two friends eventually decide to return to their families. While So-yeong resumes her school life as if nothing had happened at all, Ah-ram gets exactly what she expects from her abusive father, Kang-i’s position is somewhere between her two friends’ respective positions. Although her parents are sincerely relieved to see her returning to their home, the mood is pretty strained between her and her parents, and they are all clumsy when they try to talk a bit with each other over a dinner table.

It seems that our three girls will eventually graduate as long as they do not make any fuss during next several months, but, alas, they get into more troubles as they frequently conflict with each other. Probably because of her shame from what happened between her and Kang-i at that time, So-yeong begins to bully Kang-i along with several classmates of theirs, and that throws Kang-i into more anger and confusion. In case of Ah-ram, she does not help either of her two friends much as swayed back and forth between her two friends, and she is already considering running away again.

It is not so pleasant to see how the circumstance among these three main characters gets worse and worse due to their unwise choices and foolish deeds, but director/writer Lee Woo-jeong, who adapted Lim Sol-ah’s acclaimed novel “Best Life” for the film, keeps engaging us via her competent and thoughtful handling of story and characters. Even when its three main characters become quite unsympathetic, the movie does not lose any of understanding and empathy toward them as maintaining its calm and sober attitude as usual, and its three main cast members are believable in the complex relationship dynamics among their characters.

On the whole, “Snowball” is not something you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but it is still worthwhile to watch because of its good storytelling and solid performances, and Lee, who previously made several short films besides working as an actress at times, made a commendable feature film debut here. I do not think I can soon revisit the film, but it is one of the more interesting South Korean films of this year, so I recommend you with some caution.

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): Hail to Tony Leung

Posted on September 2, 2021 by kaist455

Superhero movie can only be as good as its villain character, and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, the latest product from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is often elevated by the very compelling presence of its villain character. Although not occupied with world domination or some other goals as grand as that, he is brimming with sheer emotional intensity as constantly driven by a surprisingly poignant personal motive, and he is probably the most complex MCU villain character since Michael B. Jordan’s character in “Black Panther” (2018).

His name is Wenwu, and he is played by Tony Leung, a Hong Kong actor who has been one of the most interesting performers in our time for more than two decades. With his deeply soulful eyes and natural charismatic presence, he has effortlessly impressed and dazzled me and many other audiences as deftly and sensitively handling his various characters’ matters of heart, and, when I happened to revisit Wong Kar-wai’s great film “In the Mood for Love” (2000) at a local theater early in this year, I was reminded again of what a great performer Leung is. Just like his co-star Maggie Cheung, he does not seem to signify anything on the surface, but both of them subtly convey to us their character’s mutual romantic feelings without any ounce of melodramatic exaggeration, and we are both amused and touched by their exquisitely discreet attitude.

I apologize for digressing a bit, so let’s get back to what I am supposed to talk about here in this review. Equipped with mysterious ten metal rings which have given him not only superpower but also immortality, Wenwu has attained and maintained considerable power and wealth for more than ten centuries, but then he finds himself unexpectedly fallen in love with one woman who dares to stand up against him. As a strong-willed guardian of some hidden magical place Wenwu wants to conquer, Jiang Li (Fala Chen) turns out to be an equal match for him, and we accordingly get a gracefully dynamic fight scene not so far from the duel scene between Leung and Zhang Ziyi in Wong’s recent martial arts drama film “The Grandmaster” (2013).

In the end, Wenwu and Jiang marry while leaving behind their respective worlds, and they subsequently have two children, but, alas, their happiness does not last long. After Jiang’s unfortunate death, Wenwu returns to his old violent way of life, and his grief and anger consequently affected the lives of his two children a lot, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Xialing (Meng’er Zhang).

25 years later, Shang-Chi is living normally in San Francisco while working as a parking lot valet with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), but then his plain daily life, which he has carefully maintained for years since he left his father’s clan, is soon disrupted. When he and Katy are on a city bus, they are suddenly ambushed by a bunch of goons sent by his father, and that leads to an action sequence as impactful as the similar one in “Nobody” (2021).

It does not take much time for Shang-Chi to realize that his father and those goons will also come for Xialing, who seems to live somewhere in Macau, China. Along with Katy, Shang-Chi hurriedly flies to Macau to find his sister, but then he comes across a couple of surprises, and we are accordingly served with another impressive action sequence to behold. Simu Liu, a likable Canadian actor whom I noticed for the first time via Canadian TV sitcom series “Kim’s Convenience”, shows here that he is a competent action movie performer, and Meng’er Zhang also deserves to be commended for bringing lots of ferocity to her character’s swift and precise physical actions.

When Wenwu finally shows himself in front of his two estranged children, he is willing to talk a lot about what he is going to do just like your average James Bond movie villain, but he does believe that this is also a very important matter to his children. He has been searching for a way to resolve his longtime personal grief and pain, and now he is almost near his ultimate goal thanks to what he recently extorted from his children. Leung handles this obligatory expository part with a considerable degree of class, authority, and humanity while maintaining well his character’s steely appearance, and he always commands over several other performers around him, who, in my inconsequential opinion, often seem to be in genuine awe and respect as sharing the screen with him.

The movie inevitably culminates to the big finale packed with lots of CGI actions, but director Destin Daniel Cretton, who wrote the screenplay along with Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham, thankfully does not lose the human dimensions of the story even during the most bombastic moments in this part, and I also appreciate how he and his crew members present many distinctive cultural elements with care and attention. Compared to the disastrously misguided attempt in “Mulan” (2020), the result is quite more authentic as frequently reminiscent of many Chinese martial arts drama films, and I also enjoyed the solid supporting performances from Awkwafina, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, and a certain well-known actor who cheerfully functions as a sort of Shakespearean comic relief in the story.

On the whole, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” brings another whiff of fresh air to the MCU franchise just like “Black Widow” (2021) did a few months ago, and it will surely give a sense of empowerment to many Asian American audiences like “Black Panther” did to African American audiences. So far, the ongoing Phase Four of the MCU has been more interesting than I expected, and I hope the people behind the MCU will keep going further with this welcoming trend.

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Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A decent painter betrayed by his greedy partners

Posted on August 29, 2021 by kaist455

As far as I can see from Netflix documentary “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed”, which was released a few days ago, Bob Ross was not only a decent painter but also a good man to admire. He simply wanted to share the joy of painting with many others out there in addition to encouraging them a lot, and that is the main reason why it is really disheartening to see how his wholesome image and legacy have been ruined and tarnished by his greedy business partners since his untimely death.

Mainly through his son Steve Ross and several friends/colleagues who knew Ross well, the early part of the documentary shows and tells us a bit about Ross’ early years. While he served in the US Air Force in Alaska during the 1960s, Ross actively pursued his interest toward painting, and his son and his first wife reminisce about how much he was devoted to painting whenever he was not working. Around the time when he was finishing one painting, his mind was already focused on whatever he was going to paint next, and he eventually came to pursue his personal passion more after leaving the US Air Force several years later.

During the 1970s, Ross met a TV painting instructor named William Alexander, and, as his mentor, Alexander impressed Ross a lot for how quickly he finished one painting during each 30-minute episode of his TV show. As often appearing along with Alexander on TV, Ross came to master that quick painting method, and then, what do you know, he soon stepped into the league of numerous TV painting instructors including not only Alexander but also Cathwren and Gary Jenkins, who were already famous for teaching how to draw flowers around that time.

When Ross worked with his accidental business partners Annette and Walter Kowalski at the beginning, everything was quite small and modest to say the least, but then it did not take much for all of them to realize that they had something quite special in their hands. Although he was rather clumsy during the shooting of the first several episodes of his TV show, Ross soon got more accustomed to how to present his painting process in front the camera, and his warm natural charisma, which was mainly represented by his tranquil face and amusing Afro hairdo, shined more along with that. As he went through one season after another, he became more and more famous in public, and he ended up doing no less than 30 seasons until his death.

According to his son and his colleagues, Ross was not so different from his TV persona like, say, Mr. Rogers, and they all fondly remember how he used to make them feel good with his positive influences. Although Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were basically a competitor to him in their field, Ross did not hesitate to recommend them at times during his TV show, and he and they remained to be good friends till his death. In case of his son, Ross did not mind encouraging and supporting him on TV, and his son, who became a painting instructor just like his father, still appreciates his father’s sincere help a lot.

However, unfortunately, there came a trouble in Ross’ life and career. As time went by, Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski, who later established Bob Ross Incorporated (BRI), attempted to gain more control over Ross and his copyrights, and Ross was certainly not pleased about this at all. His second wife stood by him as protecting him from this avaricious couple as another business partner of his, but then she died early due to her terminal illness, and Ross was further devastated when he was notified that he would also soon die not long after that.

Nevertheless, Ross kept trying to work as before while not revealing his impending death to the public, and he also continued to defend his legacy from Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski even though his body got more fragile day by day. Around the time of his eventual death in 1995, he only weighed around 38 kg (around 84 pounds), and his son tells us how it was painful for him to see his father gradually drained of his usual positive spirit.

While Ross defended his legacy till his death, Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski did not stop at all in their aggressive pursuit of the full control over Ross’ legacy, and the second half of the documentary focuses on how nasty and greedy they and their company have been during last 26 years. Besides damaging the lives and careers of several people close to Ross just for more business profit and control, they have also vulgarized what was so caringly established by Ross, and that will surely make your eyes roll for good reasons.

Ross’ son surely tried to fight against this greedy couple, but, alas, it turned out that there was really nothing he could do for stopping them, and they remain the one who has power and money. As a matter of fact, no less than 12 people associated with Ross or BRI declined to be interviewed for the documentary because they all feared for the possibility of getting sued by Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski also declined to be interviewed, and their company is already working on protecting their business interest from whatever will be resulted by the Netflix release of the documentary.

On the whole, “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed” illuminates its human subject’s legacy while revealing a lot about the ongoing injustice inflicted on it. Director Joshua Rofé did a competent job of juggling interview and archival footage clips, and I also like how he gives the documentary some nice artistic touch via a number of paintings emulating Ross’ painting style, which function as our window to those past moments remembered by the interviewees in the documentary. In my humble opinion, Ross and his legacy surely deserve better, and I can only hope that there will be the happy ending for them someday.

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CODA (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A bit better remake on the whole

Posted on August 25, 2021 by kaist455

“CODA” is a solid crowd-pleaser which has its big heart in the right place. Based on French film “La Famille Bélier” (2014), the movie gives us a sensitive and heartwarming tale of one musically talented girl and her culturally deaf family, and it is actually a bit better than the original version as handling its story and characters with more sensitivity and thoughtfulness. Because I already watched the original version, I was well aware of how it was going to pull some heartstrings inside me, but it engaged me more than expected thanks to its good storytelling and the commendable efforts from its main cast members, and it really earns those several big emotional moments around the end of its story.

At first, the movie establishes the daily life of a teenage girl named Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) and her culturally deaf family living in a small seaside town of Massachusetts. For many years, her parents Frank (Troy Kotsur) and Jackie (Marlee Maltin) have earned their living via their small fishing business, and Ruby and her older brother Leo (Daniel Durant) have been quite accustomed to helping their father on his fishing boat. Because of their disability, Frank and Leo often depend a lot on Ruby during their working time, and Ruby, who is the only non-deaf person in her family, has no problem at all with functioning as a bridge between her family and the outside world.

Once she graduates from her high school several months later, Ruby is supposedly going to help her family business more, but there comes a new possibility for her life when she is about to start her last year at a local high school along with many other schoolmates including her best friend Gertie (Amy Forsyth). When they are looking for any suitable extracurricular activity for them, Ruby chooses to join the school choir just because of her longtime interest and passion toward music, and what do you know, she turns out to be a very good singer with considerable potential. That is soon noticed by her rather eccentric music teacher, who is very willing to encourage and train her more for her possible enrollment in some prestigious music college in Boston.

The teacher later pairs Ruby with a male student named Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) for their duo performance, and she and Miles soon find themselves attracted to each other as spending more time together. At one point, she takes him to her family house, and it looks like they can get a bit closer to each other than before as they share their common passion on music, but then there comes an amusingly embarrassing moment thanks to Ruby’s parents, who are quite frank (and loud) about a certain aspect of their healthy private life.

As she hones her musical talent more under her music teacher, Ruby becomes more eager to go to that music college in Boston, but she also becomes more conflicted about whether she can actually leave her family. As the local economic situation have become hard and difficult for him and many other fishermen in the town due to many obstacles including a new regulation involved with monitoring their work process, Frank decides to take a big business risk, and that naturally means he and his deaf family members are going to need Ruby more than before. As a girl who cares a lot about her family, Ruby tries to balance herself between her passion and her family, but that turns out to be more difficult than expected, and she will have to make a big choice on her future sooner or later.

What will eventually happen between Ruby and her family will not surprise you that much, the screenplay by director/writer Sian Heder, who previously made a feature film debut with Netflix film “Tallulah” (2015), holds our attention more as steadily developing the story and characters via small but enjoyable moments. While Ruby comes to us a smart and plucky lass for whom we come to root a lot along the story, her relationships with her deaf family members are depicted with loving care and details, and the movie also lets us empathize more with her deaf family members during several crucial scenes including the one where the soundtrack is appropriately switched off for giving us some more understanding on their soundless condition.

Above all, the movie is enlivened a lot by its wonderful main cast members, who incidentally received the Special Jury Ensemble Cast Award when the movie was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year (It also received the US Grand Jury Prize, the US Dramatic Audience Award, and the US Dramatic Best Director Award for Heder in addition to being subsequently acquired for a festival-record $25 million by Apple, which released the film in US a few weeks ago). While Emilia Jones, a young talented British actress who may impress us more in the future, holds the center well via her charming lead performance, Troy Kostur, Marlee Martin, and Daniel Durant bring considerable authenticity and dignity to their respective characters as real deaf performers, and Martin, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her memorable performance in “Children of a Lesser God” (1986) and Kostur steal the show at every moment of theirs in the film.

In case of the other main cast members in the film, they bring some life and personality to their supporting roles while dutifully holding their spots around the fringe of the story. While Eugenio Derbez is somehow endearing despite his character’s broadly comic demeanors, Ferida Walsh-Peelo click well with Jones in several intimate scenes between them, and Amy Forsyth deserves to be mentioned for imbuing her functional role with enough sense of life.

In conclusion, “CODA”, whose title is the acronym of “Child of Deaf Adults”, is an exemplary case of remake, and I will not be surprised if audiences and critics keep talking about it during the upcoming Oscar season. In my humble opinion, there have already been several other better films including Oscar-nominated German film “Beyond Silence” (1996), but it is a fairly good film nonetheless besides being an improvement over the original French film, and I sincerely hope that it will bring more public awareness of those culturally deaf people out there.

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